Uncle held guilty of siblings' murder

HT Correspondent,
Chandigarh

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Updated: Feb 12, 2014 00:38 IST

More than two years after the murder of two teenaged siblings in Sector 41, additional district and session judge Shalini S Nagpal held their 28-year-old uncle guilty of stabbing them to death. The quantum of punishment will be announced on Saturday.

DNA profiling of the blood found on the knife, and a sweater of the accused found at the spot, along with a shawl and some of his clothes recovered later, helped in nailing Rahul, 28, a distant maternal uncle of the victims, Guarang Sahu, 15, and his sister Kavita Sahu.

The police had alleged that Rahul wanted physical relations with Kavita, and killed her and Gaurang after they resisted his attempts at their house on December 16, 2011. The victim's mother has, however, rubbished the 'physical relation' theory. "I am falsely implicated and have not murdered anyone," said Rahul, a resident of Raipur Rani, after the verdict.

But public prosecutor Manu Kakkar said scientific evidence proved that "none other than Rahul could have committed the crime". The court examined 18 witnesses, and the statement of a doctor from Saha, who had treated an injury on Rahul's hand allegedly sustained during a scuffle with the victims, also proved to be key evidence.

Gurang was stabbed six times in his chest and also had injuries on his knee and hand, while Kavita was attacked with the knife four times and suffered injuries on her wrist too. According to the police, on the fateful day, Rahul had started from a dera in Ambala with the intention of forcing Kavita to develop physical relations. He had tried to molest her earlier too. He entered the house with his face covered with a cloth. Gaurang answered the door and identified him. At this, he got friendly and went with Gaurang to his room on the top floor and had tea prepared by Kavita.

After tea, Gaurang told Rahul to leave the house as Kavita had told him about his intentions. Rahul tried to give justifications, which led to a heated argument between the two. An enraged Rahul took out a knife and repeatedly stabbed Gaurang. After killing Gaurang, he went to Kavita's room and tried to get physical with her but she resisted. As she tried to raise her voice, he killed her too, said the police.

In the scuffle, Rahul sustained a cut on the ring finger of his left hand. He even tried to project the incident as a robbery by scattering household articles to mislead the parents. He then hired an auto-rickshaw to the Sector-43 bus stand, from where he took a bus to return to the dera. He stayed there for four days and then moved to several places to evade arrest. Meanwhile, he also got treatment for his finger in Saha. He was arrested after investigations on January 18, 2012.

Police claimed that Rahul had been "eyeing" Kavita and particularly made advances towards her during the wedding of a relative. But as she objected and threatened to complain to the family, Rahul allegedly nursed a grudge. Police also banked on the statement of Kavita's friend Siddharth, who said she had told him about Rahul's advances.